Why to use Jenkins for CRON jobs.

Why Jenkins

Jenkins is an application which monitors executions of repeated jobs, such as building a software project or jobs run by cron.

• Building/testing software projects continuously, just like CruiseControl or DamageControl. In a nutshell, Jenkins provides an easy-to-use so-called continuous integration system, making it easier for developers to integrate changes to the project, and making it easier for users to obtain a fresh build. The automated, continuous build increases the productivity.
• Monitoring executions of externally-run jobs, such as cron jobs and procmail jobs, even those that are run on a remote machine. For example, with cron, all you receive is regular e-mails that capture the output, and it is up to you to look at them diligently and notice when it broke. Jenkins keeps those outputs and makes it easy for you to notice when something is wrong. 

Meet Jenkins

https://wiki.jenkins-ci.org/display/JENKINS/Meet+Jenkins

Jenkins can be installed as:

1. It can be installed as a windows service.
2. Its war can be run through a command prompt.

Using Jenkins

https:/wiki.jenkins-ci.org/display/JENKINS/Use+Jenkins

Challenges in Jenkins

·       JUnit through Ant Script

When JUnit is run through Ant script, if you want to display the results in Jenkins, it is important the reports generated should be in XML format, because Jenkins only reads in XML format.

·       Memory leakage problem when JUnit is run through Maven.

Refer this link to resolve the problem.

http://maxrohde.com/2012/11/26/jenkins-stackoverflow-exception-during-junit-test/

References:

http://jenkins-ci.org/